Bread buns face endangered status with arrival of rice burger

Those memories of peanut butter and rice cake sandwiches from your school lunchbag are about to get a lot better.

The rice burger, a variation on the ramen burger, is coming to the East Village. Yonekichi rice burger is expected to open at 236 E 9th Street in mid-August. The Japanese eatery will serve crispy rice cakes with filling ranging from tsukune (chicken meatball), kakiage (a medley of tempura vegetables), kinpira (lotus root), sukiyaki (thinly sliced beef and lettuce) as well as an eel and avocado variation, reports Bedford + Bowery. The burgers will range from $7-10.

While the ramen burger trend continues to grow across the boroughs, the rice burger has slowly crept behind, with pork, beef and veggie variations at the popular Japanese grocery story Sunrise Mart as well as shrimp and eel versions at Brooklyn's Spot 1 Cafe.

Rice, which is gluten-free, may be the perfect solution for those who opt for burgers without the bun, but we're still not sold on why New York's newest burger crazes must be bread-free!